As several members of the Metro Council continue to look for ways to create a new mental health center in Baton Rouge without raising taxes, a new report by The Wall Street Journal says Louisiana has the fourth worst access to mental health care in the country, citing data from patient advocacy group Mental Health America.
The report says some 96.5 million Americans were living in areas with shortages of mental health providers as of September 2014, according to an assessment by the Health Resources and Services Administration, a unit of the Department of Health and Human Services. That number is up from around 91 million in 2012.
The shortage of mental health providers in the U.S. has long been considered a significant problem. But it is becoming more acute as people are encouraged to seek treatment, or find they are able to afford it for the first time as a result of new federal requirements that guarantee mental health coverage in insurance plans.
That’s prompting a sea change in attitudes among mental health advocates, who are starting to look at solutions that are broader than just training more psychiatrists. According to the data from Mental Health America, Nevada has the nation’s worst access to mental health care, followed by Mississippi, Alabama and Mississippi. Read the full story.
In mid-January, after the Metro Council rejected sending Mayor Kip Holden’s $335 million bond issue proposal to voters in May, councilmen John Delgado and Ryan Heck said they were already looking for ways to bring the mental health center included Holden’s package to fruition without raising taxes.
The councilmen say they agree with the Holden administration on the need for a center offering round-the-clock services for the mentally ill, who are often are sent to an already overly packed parish prison when they have run-ins with law enforcement.
The councilmen have asked the Finance Department to bring them a report outlining tax-neutral options for building the mental health facility. As proposed in Holden’s bond issue, the center would cost an estimated $16.6 million.
